I love a pantry meal. No worrying about whether you’ll get a chance to make it before the ingredients go bad, no making a special trip to the store for that one ingredient that you never seem to have on hand—just a quick bite that is ready to go at any moment. And those are the cheap and healthy meals we’re looking at today.
Of course, everybody’s pantry varies, so you might not personally have all the ingredients for every one of these meals. But they all use ingredients that will last forever in the pantry or the freezer, or that you’re likely to have on hand anyway. With that in mind, let’s consider some quick-to-prepare gems from the Eat Cheap and Healthy subreddit.
Make a quick breakfast burrito
Somehow it had never occurred to me to freeze tortillas, but it turns out you absolutely can. (Tortillas also last a while in the fridge, too.)
To transform them into a breakfast burrito, throw any vegetables you have on hand into a skillet with some oil or butter—leftovers or frozen veggies can work here—add two eggs, and scramble everything together. Wrap everything in one of those previously-frozen tortillas (you can defrost with a quick zap in the microwave) and add cheese, hot sauce, or any other toppings you like.
Roast some frozen veggies
Several redditors seemingly only recently discovered you can roast frozen vegetables in the oven without thawing them first, which is a total game changer when it comes to quick and healthy meals. If you aren’t sure how to season them, tossing them in olive oil and garlic salt before you pop them in is a good start.
From there, follow this redditor’s lead and combine the veggies with rice. (You can set the rice cooker to “flash rice” while you’re getting the veggies ready, and freeze any leftover rice so it will be instantly available next time you make this dish.) They advise buying frozen veggies in bulk, as well as frozen chicken strips; or add another protein of your choice. The thread doesn’t get into seasoning, but I’d suggest experimenting with our own Allie Chanthorn Reinmann’s five flavorful Asian sauce picks.
The aforementioned five magical sauces:
Toss some chicken tenders into a salad
Breaded chicken tenders don’t only have to be dipped in ketchup and snarfed down whole (although that is also a legitimate choice for a quick, lazy meal). This redditor recommends serving the tendies atop a bagged or homemade salad of your choice. (Bagged salad may not last a long time in the fridge, but salad dressing does, so consider this a special treat for those of you who actually buy leafy greens on a regular basis.)
You can also recreate fast casual faves like chicken finger wraps or buffalo wraps by folding the chicken tenders and the salad—plus dressing and other toppings, of course—inside one of the tortillas from your freezer stash.
